David Salters leaves Honda Racing for tech startup

David Salters is to leave Honda Racing Corporation as President after 6 years at the helm and will be replaced by Vice-President, Kelvin Fu.

British-born Salters, is leaving to join a technology startup outside the motorsport industry.

Salter became President of HRC US previous incarnation, Honda Performance Development, in 2020 having joined the business in 2015 as chief engineer and engine technical leader before becoming technical director in 2019. Prior to joining Honda, Salters held senior positions in several major racing programmes, including head of internal combustion engine power unit development at Ferrari and head of Formula 1 engine development at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, formerly Ilmor. He began his motorsport career as a development and design engineer on Cosworth’s CART IndyCar programme.

During Salters’ presidency, Honda secured three IndyCar manufacturers’ championships and five drivers’ titles. HRC US also claimed the teams’, drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Salters oversaw the development of the hybrid Acura ARX-06 LMDh car and HRC US’s contribution to IndyCar’s hybrid powertrain. He also led the establishment of the company’s new business division, encompassing apparel, performance parts and a heritage racing operation connecting collectors with significant Honda and Acura competition cars.

Fu joined HPD in 2015, initially managing chassis design, aerodynamics and performance engineering. He became director of programmes in 2020 and was promoted to vice-president the following year.

Before joining Honda, Fu worked in aerospace, progressing from an R&D engineering position at HR Textron to become a product manager. He subsequently served as director of engineering at ITT Aerospace.

“I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the marvellous men and women at Honda Racing Corporation USA, our racing teams and talented drivers,” said Salters.

“It has been an honour to work together to add to Honda’s racing history here in the US. HRC US is stronger than ever, with a brilliant team, a very exciting future in IndyCar and many other cool new projects on the horizon,” he continued.

Fu commented: “When I joined HRC US, I never imagined that one day I would have the privilege of leading this extraordinary organisation,”

He added: “I want to sincerely thank David Salters for his leadership, friendship and mentorship. Dave challenged all of us to think bigger, move faster and never lose sight of the fact that we are competitors at heart.

“He is a true racer whose vision and commitment have helped shape HRC US into the world-class organisation it is today.”